Daily video updates

Thought: It's not all as it should be, is it?t’s t all as it should be, is it?

Those friendships. That situation. That difficulty. Not to mention the pain and hardship in the lives of others around the world that you just can’t bring yourself to imagine. And because all is not well with the state of the world – we pray: Thy Kingdom Come.
We pray: Jesus, please bring change, make thing different as only you can.
But before we do – just one thing.
If you dare to pray this prayer, be ready that God will take you far more joyfully and seriously than you take yourself. Be prepared not just to look on as an observer, but to take a full part in His mission to see His Kingdom Come.

Thought: There's just so little we get excited about...celebrateTHERE’S JUST SO LITTLE THAT WE GET EXCITED ABOUT… CELEBRATE

Apart from our favourite things of course. But we are so ‘meh’ about nearly everything else. So little impresses us. So little really stirs us to deep joy. Because of this, we can bring our general boredom with life into how we see and think about God.
We’re a bit bored with faith too. Our eyes are so distracted by the million everyday things around us, we never let it sink in: we know the God – the maker and holder of the whole universe. We are loved and have been given life for ever. We have reason to live and light to live by. These are things to celebrate... but so often we almost give them the ‘whatever’. So in the boring, grey ‘meh’ of our everyday lives, look up today. Let’s realise the awe and wonder of God, hiding in plain sight just beyond the ‘meh.’
Why not take some time today to list the things you know about God that are so beyond ‘whatever’? Surely they’re worth celebrating…

Why are so many of us desperate to become famous?houghWhy are so many of us so desperate to be famous?

Maybe it’s because really, we’re just desperate to be loved. No, more than that: adored.
We see celebrities, singers and actors in front of their legions of fans and imagine what it must be like to have that many people obsessing over your every move.
Except of course, even those people don’t live as if they’re adored. Because deep down, even they don’t trust that the love directed at them could ever be true.
Like them, we know ourselves, and we know that we’re not really that adorable.

There’s one person who truly is, and his name is Jesus. And even though he knows everything about us, he chooses to adore us. Even though we might not deserve it, we truly are adored.
This is the thing we all hope for... and it’s true for us. How will it change your day today to really know – deep down – that you are loved and adored by the God who made the universe?

Thought: Most of us find it hard to ask for helpMo of us find it hard to ask for help.

Whether it’s being stuck on an impossible level of a video game, or struggling to complete a piece of work, our stubbornness and pride can be our biggest enemies.
Who likes admitting they haven’t got what it takes? It’s ludicrous, but we live with the lie that strength is found in having it all together.
God invites us to see the world the other way around. To admit you’re weak is to be strong. To come clean that you’re broken, is actually to be whole. To ask for help shows how together you really are.
Jesus is here. Right by your side to help you. Put down your stubbornness and pride, and let him.

Committed to working on those six packs or getting Beach Body Ready. Some people lift weights to strengthen their shoulders. But some of the weights we really have to carry are too heavy for anyone to bear alone.
Prayer is simply refusing to carry things ourselves. It is the practice of loading the things that are too heavy for us onto the shoulders of Jesus.
And when we do, we find that there is not a burden, not a person, not a situation that he wasn’t carrying already. When we whisper our prayers for the things we carry - if we listen closely enough - we hear back the whisper that he has been praying for them already.
Don’t bear your own burdens. Or those of others. Pray for them by loading them onto Jesus. And listen in to what he is already praying for.

Thought: There is a famous story about 5000 hungry people with no foodThere’s a famous old sty about five thousand hungry people with no food.

The gig had gone late, and no-one had expected it. The only person to plan ahead was one lad with a bit of bread and fish. In Jesus’ hands, that’s all that was needed to feed all 5,000.
Sometimes it can feel like there’s so much need in the world. Five thousand, five million times more problems than we could possibly seek to solve. What on earth have we got to offer God, when we have so little? The amount is never the issue. It’s simply about our willingness to give it all.
And hold nothing back for ourselves.
All through history, the people who’ve seen God do the most, have simply given him everything, even if they didn’t have very much.
Today, whatever you have to give – your time, your skills, your money, your heart – offer if all to God.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word “ThuSorry seems to be the hardest word.”

No it isn’t. It’s one of the easiest. It trips right off the tongue. You forget to do something: “sorry”. You hurt someone’s feelings: “sorry”. It’s like a knee-jerk reaction to get ourselves off the hook, to shut down the conversation or stop the criticism.
What’s much harder is a real sorry. Saying it, and also meaning it. A true sorry has given up the fight of trying to prove you’re right. To justify or explain.
It’s a coming clean.
Come clean before God now. Everything. And ask him to help you to really mean it too.

One way is to live as if we’re owed it all, that we deserve everything good that comes our way, and that anything bad we receive is an unfair mistake.The other way is to see it all as a gift.
Everything around us seems to hardwire us to believe we deserve it. All of it: education, fun times, money, respect, friendship, love. But deep down, we know it’s a lie. We know we don’t deserve it any more than anyone else.
Thankfully, God doesn’t work in terms of ‘deserve’. He doesn’t give people what they’ve earned.
Instead, he gives gifts. It’s all an utter gift. Your health. Your friends. Your family. Your future. His love for you. Everything. Gift. Gift. Gift.
And knowing that, the response from us shouldn’t be living like we deserve it, but being thankful.
How might today be different if you chose to see all these gifts for what they are, and be thankful?

May 11th - Praise

A reminder of your deanery weekend with Chris Webb on 'praying the psalms'

hhink of your best friend

Think of that person who makes you smile. That person who, when you reflect on the comedy things you’ve done together, makes you laugh out loud. You love spending time with them, because you love who they are and what they do. You find yourself talking about them to everyone. Are you ever like that about Jesus? Do you ever find yourself blown away by who he is, and by the fact that he’s with you? If not, maybe you’ve not really grasped quite who he is. Today, try to list ten things which are worth praising him for. They don’t need to be big things, just the stuff that makes you smile. The stuff that you might tell others about, if you were telling them about your friend Jesus

Thought for the dayy qestion isn’t so much where you are, but where you’re oig.

Are you close to Jesus today? Or feeling far from him? Perhaps that doesn’t matter so much to him. Perhaps what really matters is which way you’re heading. Are you walking, stumbling, trying to step through the mud toward Jesus? Or when you think about it, are you slowly drifting away? Come back to him today. Turn around if you’ve been facing in the wrong direction; turn that walk into a run if you’re already heading towards him. Now, pray for those friends whose lives would be utterly different if they joined you in running to Jesus, instead of wandering away from him.